Water purification and dispensing apparatus are very well known. Many commercial retail outlets have on their premises a free standing water purification and dispensing unit. Typically, a customer will use either a container provided by the retail outlet or their own container and fill it at the machine. The machines are typically customer operated. Some machines are set up to vend the water and the customer pays by inserting money into the machine. Others are used where the customer pays for the water at the retail checkout counter.
There are many types of water purification and dispensing systems. U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,727 to Harris, Jr., discloses an apparatus utilizing staged reverse osmosis units for purifying and dispensing water. U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,590 to DiSanto discloses a self-service water dispensing apparatus especially adapted to be located inside a grocery store. Coster Engineering of Mankato, Minn. markets a number of water purification and dispensing machines for use in retail outlets.
Presently, many individuals carry a water bottle with them during their routine daily activities, as well as during physical activities such as bicycling and jogging. Sometimes these individuals purchase bottled water for this use. Such water bottles can be filled at the water purification and dispensing machines as they are presently known. However, the water from such machines is not typically cooled. Therefore, it is dispensed at either room temperature or the temperature that the water is supplied to the machine. U.S. Pat. No. 5,112,477 to Hamlin discloses an apparatus which dispenses purified water and ice made from purified water. In addition to the water purification system, a cooling system must also be included in the machine to form the ice. Hence, the machine is fairly complicated. It would be beneficial to have a water purification and dispensing machine that could dispense cold water without having the machine include an extra cooling system.
In the home there are, of course, refrigerators that dispense cooled water. U.S. Pat. No. 2,553,693 to Wehr discloses a refrigerator with tubing mounted on the inside and a faucet located on the outside through which water cooled within the refrigerator can be dispensed. Presently available home refrigerators include a water reservoir in the refrigerated compartment that is connected to a water delivery device on the door of the refrigerator. Such systems generally do not provide any water purification within the system, nor would they be equipped to handle the flow rates and large volumes as are normally dispensed through water purification and dispensing machines located in retail outlets.
There is therefore a need for a water purification and dispensing apparatus which is both simple and yet can dispense large volumes and flow rates of cooled, purified water.